[English] Text list

Thu May 2 20:57:42 EST 2013

Hi people,
I'm asking for some clarity here. I noticed in latest The Age Text Talk that the account of 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist" again states that Changez becomes a fundamentalist. A colleague of mine said that she assumed the same.  However, I see no evidence for this in the book. He never states in the closing or opening pages that he's become more devout, attends the mosque more regularly, prays more often to Allah, etc. He never mentions God as part of his agenda. I believed that Hamid shows him being radicalised - but politically, not in terms of religion. I interpreted his "liberation" from American ideology to involve a left-wing opposition to US hefemony- he calls his supporters "comrades" and the protests he is involved in Pakistan are political rather than religious affirmations. He is fundamentally opposed to the USA but not in Islamist fashion at all. To judge him as such because of his beard - a symbolic defiance of Western attitudes - is surely
 to fall into the stereotypical thinking Hamid is challenging.
     I'm convinced, too, that the references to Chile and communist poet Pablo Neruda also suggest a poliital radicalism. In fact, it seems to me that the assumption that he's become an Islamist is based on a kind of amnesia, a forgetting that there can be a political opposition to American power and that to oppose America is not identical to being a Muslim terrorist. That binary thinking is, to me, a symptom of the way the American interpretation of all recent conflict (Huntington's "clash of civilisations") has become the prism through which all events must supposedly be viewed - and hence the attention given to the Boston bombers whoich neatly confirms this.
    I see the assumption that Changez has become an Islamist to itself be a symptom of Western stereotyping and a kind of traducing of the political force of the novel. 
    What do others- especially Greta -  think?
Regards,
Lyle

________________________________
 From: "Caruso, Greta" <Caruso.G at kingswoodcollege.vic.edu.au>
To: 'VCE English Teachers' Mailing List' <english at edulists.com.au> 
Sent: Thursday, 28 March 2013 11:33 AM
Subject: [English] Text list

Hi folks,  

Past text list issues 
The Reluctant Fundamentalist was on, The Reluctant Fundamentalist  went off, The Reluctant Fundamentalist came back on. Now we have 21 texts on the list. Curious! 
The story behind that episode has not been made public, leaving the situation open to speculation about the inclusion, removal, and replacement of a text which shows American capitalism and 9/11 at least partially from an alternate point of view. Curiouser! 

Current film text issues  
Now, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories has gone off after three years. The reason Sean Box current VCAA English Manager, has given is that few people selected the text.  

Some of the original decisions for the selection of The Old Man Who Read Love Stories might come into play here.  

My understanding is that 
•              there were concerns about the popularity of film texts such as Look Both Ways and Gattaca.  Apparently, it was deemed problem (by some at least)  that so many students did these film texts , that they could be seen as easy access, and that a large number of the students who did them were not highly able students. This apparently informed the decision to attempt to put on a film text that would not be a highly popular  blockbuster.  
•              some people  had issues with film text in the English curriculum in general, and thought that film texts belong in Media rather than in English. The decision was made to put on a film text is was possibly worthy but not necessarily popular. If this is true, then an attempt to diminish the role of film in the English curriculum through text selection raises serious questions.  

Many people were surprised by the selection of The Old Man Who Read Love Stories and dismayed that the film text seemed aimed at a very narrow cohort.  

I am really happy with All About Eve, and think it is a pretty good choice and my guess is that it will be popular.  My problem is the process and the backstory.  

Anyone who is on this list and was on Text Selection Panel chaired by the previous Manager of English, Marion White, who has any specific knowledge might like to write in and tell us more about it.  

The broader issue  
The broader issue that I want to raise again is that if texts are put on the list they should be there for four years. Even if only one teacher is doing it with one class, it needs to be there for the time.   This discussion needs also take into consideration that when teachers might have a text going off the list, they do not necessarily replace it with a brand new one, for instance, they may replace it with one that is in its second year, his gives even less running time.   

I know sometimes texts are put up that turn out to have very few takers ie Voices and Visions, but I want to support those colleagues who make brave choices and expand the way we think about the text list. So even if texts turn out to be poor choices, we need to leave them on for the four years. The only exception I can see for this is if not a single student has written on it at the end of year exam, even then I would suggest that we think twice.  If teachers cannot be guaranteed the time, then why would anyone select a new form, or different style of text. 

The Theme 
All of these threads combined could be read as a reflection of VCAA making very conservative decisions 

Greta Caruso 

355 Station Street, Box Hill, Victoria, Australia 3128
T: +61 3 9896 1706  
E:caruso.g at kingswoodcollege.vic.edu.au 
www.kingswoodcollege.vic.edu.au 

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